News Briefs : HBO orders Leftovers to series

... It's not HBO, it's leftovers. Well, it will be The Leftovers. The cable network has ordered to series the latest project from Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, the slightly supernatural drama The Leftovers. Based on the book by Tom Perrotta, The Leftovers follows what happens after the biblical Rapture takes all the righteous people away and leaves the Earth populated with everyone who didn't get called up to heaven. Specifically, the series will center on a group of people who must survive without their more devout loved ones. Liv Tyler, Justin Theroux, Christopher Eccleston, Amy Brenneman, Emily Meade, Michael Gaston, and Chris Zylka are all in the cast, and HBO has asked for 10 episodes.

... Former Awkward. showrunner and creator Lauren Iungerich has received a put pilot commitment for Bitch off the Ol' Block, a comedy about a woman who is reunited with her teenage daughter. The daughter turns out to be a smart-assed version of the mother and moves in with the mother and her roommates, who all raise her. Another twist on the family member moving in at an inopportune time!

... Enlightened creator and star Mike White has a new project cookin' at NBC. The show is about a young 16-year-old chef prodigy who works in a kitchen with his temperamental idol! NBC has given White's project a put pilot commitment.

... Hot on the heels of Magic Mike and the general idea that hunky half-naked men lure eyeballs, Fox has made a put pilot commitment to The Whole Shebang, a new comedy from producer Jennifer Garner and writer Jason Micallef (Butter). So how do gyrating washboards in banana hammocks fit in? A newly single soccer mom inherits a male strip club and discovers a supportive yet dysfunctional surrogate family within.

... Syfy has acquired the Canadian werewolf series Bitten for broadcast. The series stars Laura Vandervoort (Smallville, V) as Elena Michaels, the lone werewolf in existence. Elena ditches her pack and moves to a new city, but what do you know? A bunch of dead bodies pop up and next thing she knows, she's back working with her old gang of werepeople. Syfy will air all 13 episodes of the first season. Bitten was originally broadcast on Canada's Entertainment One.

CASTING NEWS

... The Walking Dead will add Christian Serratos to play the character Rosita Espinosa, who appeared in the comics, for Season 4. The casting announcement says she'll recur in Season 4 with the option to become a regular in Season 5, so I like her chances to survive!

... ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland has found its voice for the Caterpillar. Veteran punk rocker Iggy Pop of The Stooges will speak for the drug-huffing butterfly worm. Other voices in the cast include John Lithgow for the White Rabbit and Keith David for the Cheshire Cat. Iggy takes over the job from fellow musician Roger Daltry, who lent his voice to the Caterpillar when Once Upon a Time used the character. [EW]

... Billie Piper and Helen McCrory have been cast in Showtime's Penny Dreadful. The eight-episode horror series follows several characters from literature, including Dr. Frankenstein and Dorian Grey, as they sit on the fringes of society in old London. Piper (Secret Diary of a Call Girl) will play an Irish immigrant trying to escape her past, and McRory (Harry Potter) will be a "spiritualist." Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton, and Eva Green are also involved in the show. Look for Penny Dreadful in 2014.

... Everybody Loves Raymond brother Brad Garrett will drop by CBS's The Crazy Ones for a couple episodes. The exact details of his role aren't yet known, but his character Lewis will be part of the ad firm that Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar's characters work for.

... LeVar Burton will be back on Community this season. Look out, Troy.

News Brief : A lotta number(s) news for shows aired last week

Its numbers time, The Big Bang Theory shows its still the numbers-king, NCIS is still the most watched crime drama procedural. After all the media hype and buzz in the summer, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had an impressive series premiere. The Emmys also had an impressive night on sunday night with increase in viewership from last year's event. Cable shows also continues to draw in big numbers, as Dexter goes out with a bang, Ray Donovan and Devious Maids end their first season on a high.

.. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the most talked-about new series of the fall, premiered last night to 12.1 million viewers, coming in with a 4.7 rating in the 18-49 demo. That's ABC's largest premiere in three years,and Joss Whedon's largest premiere in the history of the universe. The show premiered last week to impressive ratings, scoring the best debut of a new drama in all of television since 2009’s V.

...  In another numbers news, NCIS pulled in 20.02 million viewers and had its third largest season-opening audience ever. What kind of voodoo magic are those kids practicing that they get that many viewers?

... The Big Bang Theory also returned last week to its biggest ratings ever. 20.44 million viewers tuned in for the Season 7 premiere.

... Congratulations, Emmys! had the biggest audience for the awards show since 2005. Sunday's broadcast on CBS averaged 17.63 million viewers, up a third from last years telecast on ABC.

... More ratings! Dexter's apparently disappointing final episode reached the series' biggest audience yet, with 2.8 million viewers tuning in for the initial airing. Ray Donovan's Season 1 finale also did well, with 2.1 million viewers. That's a Showtime best for a freshman series' season finale. As for Breaking Bad, it continued to be awesome and rise in the ratings even with a lot of competition from Dexter and the Emmys, and hit a series high with 6.6 million viewers. Remember when you had to convince people to try to watch this show? While we're at it, let's just mention that Lifetime's Devious Maids wrapped up its first season on Sunday, and 3 million viewers watched that for a season high.

... FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Dads both premiered to okay numbers last night (6 million viewers and a 2.5 demo rating, and 5.6 million viewers and a 2.1 demo rating, respectively). This is sort of disappointing for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which I've heard called the best new comedy of the fall

... FX has concluded that the Season 6 premiere of Sons of Anarchy has become the most-watched FX broadcast of all time. So far, it's accumulated 8.32 million viewers.

Back to other news apart from viewership ratings and numbers

 ... Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The most anticipated new show of the season debuted to big numbers for ABC, but very mixed reviews. Some people loved it, some people thought it was only mediocre, some people were very confused (and in some cases angered) by the lack of superheroes (which means they didn't read anything that came out before the series premiered). But regardless of what The People thought, it was a strong start for ABC, Marvel, and the Joss Whedon himself.

... James Spade is back on TV and carrying most of NBC's new—and largely mediocre—FBI thriller The Blacklist on his shoulders. But the series is worth a look to just to see the actor (who plays a most-wanted criminal who suddenly surrenders himself to the FBI) chew scenery, cling to every pregnant pause, and let lines like "Well I think you're special," slide out of his mouth.

... Another edition of NCIS again! So another spin-off is in the works. The new series would be set in and around New Orleans, with a backdoor pilot planned for a super-sized spring episode of the original series. NCIS star Mark Harmon would produce, with fall 2014 a likely debut date for what can only be called NCIS: NO.

... A Walking Dead spinoff, AMC announced that it's developing a "companion series" (a.k.a. a fancy term for spin-off) of its zombie mega-hit The Walking Dead. The new series will focus on "an entirely new story and cast of characters," and Robert Kirkman, who created the comics, will serve as a co-executive producer along with Walking Dead EPs Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert. The series, which doesn't currently have a title, is expected to premiere in 2015.

... Ken Jeong, better known as Chang from Community ( The Hangover triologies), is set to star and produce in a medical multi-camera comedy on NBC. Dr. Ken will loosely be based on Jeong's own experience as a real physician (he was a doctor before he turned to acting). Can't wait for this.

... TNT has canceled its drama King & Maxwell after one season. The series starred Rebecca Romijn and Jon Tenney as secret-service agents who became private eyes.

News Briefs fot the week : True Blood to end with next year's 7th season, LeBron James now delving into TV show productions..

....Well, guys, it's official. HBO has confirmed recent rumors that True Blood's seventh season, set to air next summer, will mark the show's True Death. The news shouldn't really come as a shock; the clock has been ticking on Bon Temps for quite some time.

News Brief : Magic City loses its 'magic', The Mentalist loses 2 of its own and there could have being a black Dr Who

... Starz Cancels Magic City After Two Seasons...
The clock has struck twelve for Magic City. Starz has canceled the period drama after two seasons. The series, which chronicled the lives of mobsters in Miami during the 1950s, will air its series finale this Friday at 9pm.

News Briefs : A new Super-Heroes Themed Series on TV...

... Fox has ordered a pilot for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Kevin O' Neill. Said league is made up of extraordinary gentlemen from fiction, including Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The graphic novel was adapted into a mediocre movie starring Sean Connery in 2003. It sounds like Fox doesn't want ABC's Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to steal all the "superhero" thunder, and the timing of the pilot order means it isn't too late for it to join the 2013-2014 schedule.

News Brief: James Gandolfini is Dead ,,,,, and other TV news.

SAD NEWS
Actor James Gandolfini, known for his iconic, Emmy-winning portrayal of one of television's most famous gangsters, Tony Soprano (in the series The Sopranos) has died at age 51. Early reports suggest that the cause of death is a massive heart attack; Gandolfini was in Italy at the time. Gandolfini's long and impressive resume includes roles both large and small in True Romance, Where The Wild Things Are, In the Loop, Zero Dark Thirty, and a host of other films. He is survived by his wife and two children.

LET THE LAUGHS BEGIN NEWS
... FX has ordered a new untitled comedy starring Martin Lawrence and Kelsey Grammer as mismatched lawyers who end up being buddies. The deal, dubbed a 10/90, is similar to the one FX struck with Anger Management; FX is asking for 10 episodes, and if those 10 episodes hit a certain target in the ratings department, FX will order 90 more episodes. FX has a similar deal with a new comedy starring George Lopez.

.... Community creator Dan Harmon has apologized for his comments about Community Season 4. Where he said that he watched the fourth season Community—the season he was not part of after his firing—and did not care for it. At all. In fact, he compared watching Season 4, specifically seeing James Brolin play Jeff's dad, to "being held down and watching your family get raped on a beach." And "flipping through Instagram just watching your girlfriend blow everyone." He apologized to fans, the Season 4 writers, and the cast and crew for his remarks, but did not mention Sony or Season 4 showrunners Moses Port and David Guarascio. He also acknowledged that he said what he said in a cheap attempt to get laughs and that his head "was up his ass."

BUSINESS TIME
.... Netflix has renewed the Eli Roth-helmed horror series Hemlock Grove for Season 2, ordering 10 episodes with a target launch date of 2014. The company has also announced that Charles H. Eglee will join the series as an executive producer and showrunner; Eglee's previous EP credits include The Walking Dead, Dexter, and The Shield.

... Singer John Legend won't let his dream of getting into the TV business die. After a few failed attempts at producing, Legend has a new project in the works at Showtime. The half-hour comedy would follow the lives of big-time music producers, and be loosely based on Legend's life, which probably involves all kinds of opulence and pretty ladies and man. Is this going to be similar to The Real Husbands of Hollywood (one of the best new comedy series this year), reality-show or scripted? We wait and see.

... Nashville music boss T Bone Burnett is leaving the series between seasons, and will hand over his post to Buddy Miller, Burnett's righthand man in Season 1. Burnett produced all the original tunes for the country-music drama and co-composed the score.

CASTING NEWS
... HBO's drama pilot The Leftovers has beefed up its cast with a rare bit of TV casting for one actress. Liv Tyler (that elf lady from Lord of the Rings, that daughter of that rock star) has joined the project, starring opposite Justin Theroux. The drama comes from Damon Lindelof and follows those left behind after the Rapture takes all the righteous away. Tyler, in her first major TV role, will play a woman who becomes the target of a cult.

... Oscar nominee John Hurt has joined FX's vampire pilot The Strain, from Carlton Cuse and Guillermo Del Toro. Hurt will play the owner of a pawn shop who may be the only one who knows what's going on with the sudden viral outbreak the show is built around. Corey Stoll and Mia Maestro were previously cast in the series.

... NBC's upcoming drama Believe is already changing things up. Sienna Guillory, originally cast as a series regular, will see her character written out of the show now that producers have decided on a new direction. In the J.J. Abrams-produced drama about a young woman named Bo with special abilities, Guillory's character was a professional goon attempting to kidnap her. But now several new bad guys will be written in with the hopes that one becomes a series regular.

... Desperate Housewives vet Doug Savant will guest-star on TNT's Rizzoli & Isles. He'll play a mock trial adviser in a September episode.

... Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane will lend his voice to Futurama's final season, and not for just any role; I'm talking about the character who owes me 10,000,000 tears. MacFarlane will voice Seymour, Fry's dog from 1999 who was the centerpiece of the series' masterpiece "Jurassic Bark." Listen for MacFarlane in the August 14 episode. [EW]

... The Veronica Mars movie will bring back New Girl star Max Greenfield as Deputy Leo. Basically, everyone who was originally part of Veronica Mars will be back for the movie.

FIRING NEWS

Following Charlie Sheen's weekend tantrum over his co-star Selma Blair, Blair has been canned from Anger Management. Sheen had threatened to quit the show if Blair wasn't fired after word got back to Sheen that Blair had been talking smack about his work ethic.

News Brief : Actress threatens Obama, High numbers for Game Of Thrones and Burn Notice season premiere

NUMBERS NEWS....
... "Game of Thrones" is being watched by a lot of people. But how many people? Enough to give it the second-biggest audience among original HBO series, according to a collection of data put together by someone. Across all platforms it's notching about 13.4 million viewers per episode this season, which stands just below the 14.4 million that watched "The Sopranos” in 2004.

... USA's "Graceland" premiered last week to decent numbers. The drama, about undercover agents from different government departments who live together in a safehouse, drew 3.3 million viewers despite going up against the NBA finals (go Spurs, or should I say, don't go Heat!) and having its pilot available online for a few weeks.
"Burn Notice's final-season premiere was up from last year, with 4.3 million viewers.

... FX has canceled "Brand X With Russell Brand”, but it hasn't done away with Russell Brand entirely. After realizing that letting Brand do a live, daily show wasn't working, FX has opted to use him elsewhere and ordered a Brand-starring pilot loosely based on Brand's life.

CASTING NEWS
... Leverage star and internet sensation Christian Kane will guest-star on TNT's upcoming drama King & Maxwell. Kane will play the brother of star Rebecca Romijn's character in Episode 6.

... Ernie Hudson, the black guy from Ghostbusters, is close to joining Frank Darabont's upcoming '50s cop drama Lost Angels. Hudson would play a mobster in the employ of Bugsy Siegel who owns a bunch of clubs.

... The upcoming movie Hot Tub Time Machine 2 will reunite a pair of "Community" actors, as Gillian Jacobs and Chevy Chase have both signed on to appear in the film. I'm sure everything will go great.

JENSEN ACKLES NEWS
... ”Supernatural's Jensen Ackles and his actress wife Danneel Harris (One Tree Hill) had a baby girl! And they named it Justice Jay Jensen. Congrats, guys.

BIZARRE NEWS
... An actress named Shannon Richardson who's played bit parts on The Walking Dead and The Vampire Diaries has been indicted for sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg in May. The letters were full of pro-gun statements and threats to anyone who tried to take Richardson's guns away. A snippet from one of them: "Anyone who wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God given right and I will exercise that right till the day I die." Ricin, made famous by Breaking Bad's Walter White, is a deadly poison that's difficult to trace and takes a few days to kill those who come in contact with it. Small-time actress Richardson played a zombie on The Walking Dead.

News Brief : Major Doctor Who news

Doctor Who cast are making the news this week, while Dan Harmon returns to Community. 

.... Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who. After a few years as the eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who. The news was revealed on the network's Doctor Who blog. Smith's final turns as the famed traveler of space and time will happen in the 50th anniversary special that's scheduled for November and in this year's Christmas special, after which the Doctor will be regenerated by some new lucky chap.

 "Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me as an actor and a bloke, and that largely is down to the cast, crew, and fans of the show," Smith said in a statement.

.... In other Doctor Who related news, former Doctor's companion Karen Gillian, who played Amy Pond (the girl who waited) for 2 and a half seasons with (also outgoing) present Doctor 'Matt Smith' is joining "Marvel's Guardians of The Galaxy". Details are a bit sketchy about her role in the movie, but it appears she would be the lead female villain in the picture, Lee Pace and Michael Rooker are also said to be villains. The bigger nugget is that Benicio Del Toro has signed on for a multi-picture deal with Marvel, in a lead role for James Gunn’s space opera. Is he Thanos? Is he Rocket Raccoon? Hopefully we’ll soon find out. The cast now includes Benicio Del Toro, Karen Gillan, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Michael Rooker, Ophelia Lovibond, Lee Pace, and Glenn Close. The film opens August 1st, 2014.
.... Dan Harmon, the creator of Community is back. After creative and production differences between him and the studio last year that made him resign as the show runner, he's back to the show. After the 'up and down' quality of the episodes of season 4, Harmon's return is a welcome return for the show.
... Ben Edlund, Supernatural's most celebrated writer and executive producer, is leaving the CW show to help out his old pal and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke at Revolution. Edlund, who's also written for The Venture Bros., Firefly, Angel, and The Tick, is responsible for some of Supernatural's best and most creative episodes, including "The End," "The French Mistake," and "Wishful Thinking" (the porno-addicted teddy bear? That's Edlund's baby). Supernatural will survive just fine without Edlund, but Revolution should get a huge boost with him as it looks to improve creatively after its dull first season. And it's not just Edlund who will help things out in Season 2. It was previously announced that Farscape and Defiance creator Rockne S. O'Bannon, as well as CSI:NY's Trey Callaway, are also joining Revolution's writing team.
... Revenge will be saying goodbye to Ashley Davenport next season. Actress Ashley Madekwe has not been asked back for Season 3 as her character's story has come to a natural conclusion and none of the writers wanted to awkwardly squeeze her into the show.
... Actress Agnes Bruckner has been cast in the A&E pilot Occult from producer Michael Bay. The series is another one of those "FBI agents taking on supernatural cases" shows, like The X-Files. Bruckner won't play one of the agents; she'll play a woman who gets caught up in some freaky stuff.
... Season 2 of Netflix's House of Cards is adding a pair to its cast. Mad Men's Sam Page and Deadwood's Molly Parker will join the dirty Washington-set political thriller, but details on their roles haven't leaked yet.

NBC's upcoming Media Release, New Shows and Cancelled Shows.

NBC has ordered five new series—three new comedies ("About a Boy", "Sean Saves the World", and "Family Guide") and two new dramas (J.J. Abrams' "Believe" and "Crisis"). They join the previously straight-to-series orders for comedy "The Michael J. Fox Show" and pirate drama "Crossbones".

A young girl and a con! International conspiracies! Man-boy bonds! Man-girl bonds! Man-blind-boy bonds! That's what part of NBC's new fall schedule will feature, as some of the network's secrets have hit the internet in advance of its Upfront presentation in New York, which is scheduled for Monday. So far it's three new comedies and two new dramas for the network, with many more announcements soon to come unless NBC wants to broadcast a lot of dead air. Let's run down the new series:

..... "Believe" has J.J. Abrams' name attached to it, like half of all TV shows on the air right now. He'll executive produce along with Bryan Burk for Bad Robot. The drama sounds like a supernatural thriller and follows a young girl with "a gift" who gets protection from a recently sprung con to keep evil forces at bay. The main actress in this show is an unknown young girl named Johnny Sequoyah, Jake McLaughlin, Kyle MacLachlan, Delroy Lindo, Jaime Chung, and Sienna Guillroy also star.

.... "Crisis" comes from Rand Ravich, the creator of NBC's "Life". This one goes all the way to the top! In the drama, a mystery man brings all of Washington to its knees through an international conspiracy that threatens everyone. Sound like "The Event" Part II! "Crisis" marks the triumphant return to television of Gillian Anderson, "The X-Files" Scully. Also starring are Dermot Mulroney (Enlightened), Max Martini (Revenge), and Rachael Taylor (666 Park Avenue).

..... About a Boy is a single-camera comedy adaption of the Nick Hornby novel and the 2002 Hugh Grant film that spawned from it. David Walton (Bent) plays a bachelor who forms a friendship with his neighbor's young boy. And yes, the neighbor happens to be a hot single mom (Minnie Driver). Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood) is writing and producing, so you can bet it's going to be all weepy and exhilarating and make you feel feelings you never thought you could. "1600 Penn"s Benjamin Stockham will play the boy (assuming NBC doesn't renew 1600 Penn). Leslie Bibb (Judd Apatow movies) and Al Madrigal (The Daily Show) also star. This show is going to be very easy to like. Update: "1600 Penn" has been cancelled.

.... Sean Saves the World continues Sean Hayes' relationship with NBC. Hayes (Will & Grace) produces and stars as a man dealing with his 14-year-old daughter and his temperamental boss. It's a multi-camera joint. Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!), Echo Kellum (Ben & Kate), and Linda Lavin (Alice) also star.

.... Family Guide is a single-camera sitcom about a boy who worships his blind father and becomes closer to his mom after the two divorce. Parker Posey, JK Simmons, and Eli Baker star, with Bent's DJ Nash behind the series.

These five new shows join "Chicago Fire", "Revolution", "Law & Order: SVU", "Grimm", "Parenthood", "The Voice", and "The Michael J. Fox Show" (new series) on NBC's schedule for 2013-2014. There will be more NBC pickups coming soon, as well as decisions on which of the networks comedies will return.
According to reports online, NBC has passed on the following pilots, taking them out of consideration: Brenda Forever; Drop-Off (previously known as The Gates); Holding Patterns; Joe, Joe, & Jane; Bloodline; Hatfields & McCoys; The Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives; and The Sixth Gun.

RENEWALS

..... NBC has also ordered a sixth season of "Parks and Recreation". With "30 Rock" over and "The Office" ending next week, NBC had little choice but to renew Parks and Recreation, lest the network be without any established returning comedies next season.

CANCELLATIONS

That's two seasons and done for Whitney Cummings' "Whitney", a multi-camera comedy that inexplicably stuck around after being panned by critics and the viewers.

Also moving out of NBC's digs is White House family comedy "1600 Penn", a single-camera sitcom that got off to a rough start in January before eventually picking up a bit. It was too late, though, and the series never really gained any additional viewers.

They also canceled "Guys With Kids" and the Christina Applegate, Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph comedy "Up All Night". Hopefully this is good news for "Go On" and "New Normal".

NBC has not yet made a decision on "Community".


Culled from TV.com

News : Guillermo Del Toro to adapt Monster, News, Renewals, New Shows and Casting News.

... THIS SOUNDS PRETTY COOL NEWS

... Super famous director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) is teaming up with HBO for a possible series based on the Japanese manga Monster, from author Naoki Urasawa. The 18-volume series follows a doctor who tracks down a psychotic teen—and the teen happens to be the child whose life he saved years earlier—to stop him from committing terrible atrocities on the world. So it's a feel-good story, basically.

...BBC America is replicating "Orphan Black" for a second season. The sci-fi series about clones has been renewed, with 10 new episodes due next year. "Orphan Black& is led by the performance of Tatiana Maslany, who plays multiple characters, all clones of one another.

... TNT has upped the episode order for the second season of Major Crimes from 15 episodes to 19 episodes following its wildly successful first season, which averaged 7 million viewers per episode. The network was also feeling generosity toward "Perception", and ordered an extra episode of that, too. Both "Franklin and Bas"h are still waiting by their phones.

... Netflix has slapped a premiere date on "Orange is the New Black", its next original series. The show from "Weeds" creator Jenji Kohan will debut July 11 and release all its episodes at once, as is the Netflix way. "Orange is the New Black" is a dramedy about a woman who gets thrown in jail and must learn to adapt to her new surroundings.

,.. ABC Family has picked up its pilot "Terminales" to series, but on one condition: The show has to change its name! The drama, an adaptation of a Mexican soap, follows a female journalist who balances work and family... and cancer. The new name of the series is "Chasing Life".

... NBC has given "Smash" a tiny lift for its season (and likely series) finale. The two-hour Season 2 ender being moved from the series' normal Saturday time-slot (LOL Saturday) to Sunday, May 26 at 9pm.

... Having already mastered drama, A&E Networks is now getting into original comedy with the pilot "Whitey". Producer Leslie Greif, who ushered in the surprise hit miniseries "Hatfields & McCoys", is behind the project that is apparently being earmarked for the History Channel. It's about a conservative guy (played by David Koechner, "The Office") in his 40s who doesn't know what to do after he gets fired.

... Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva" has a return date: Season 5 will start June 23.

SHOWRUNNER NEWS

... "Criminal Minds" showrunner Erica Messer has signed a new deal with ABC Studios, which could trigger the first domino to fall like a house of cards in the "Criminal Minds" contract negotiations. The CBS procedural remains un-renewed as the cast has not penned new deals, but Messer's autograph bodes well for this standoff to come to an end soon.

... "Cougar Town" producer Blake McCormick will take over showrunning duties next season, the comedy's fifth overall and second on TBS. McCormick replaces Ric Swartzlander, who took over for creator Bill Lawrence after Season 3.

... ABC's "Malibu Country" is looking for a new showrunner should it be picked up for a second season. Nastaran Dibai stepped in to take over showrunning duties during the first season, but is leaving over creative differences.


CASTING NEWS

... Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) will star in and produce a pilot for HBO. The untitled half-hour dramedy will center on retired and active athletes living in Miami. Johnson will play one of the athletes. Peter Berg (Battleship, Hancock) will direct.

... The "Pretty Little Liars" spin-off "Ravenswood" has found its chunk o' hunk male lead. Tyler Blackburn, who currently stars on PLL as Caleb, will depart the ABC Family hit for the spin-off and start his journey in the annual PLL Halloween episode. If Caleb had a hard time with homicidal teen cliques, it won't be much better for him in Ravenswood. The show is set in the titular Pennsylvania town, which happens to suffer a curse that five youngsters must unravel. Ravenswood will premiere the day after the "Pretty Little Liars" Halloween episode.

... "Royal Pains" is welcoming some cool guest-stars to its fifth season, foremost among them being "Community"s Danny Pudi. Abed will play a radio personality who gets help from the doc when he loses his voice before a career-making gig. Also coming to "Royal Pains" will be "Grimm"s Claire Coffee and Tony-winner Stephen Spinella.

... "Ben & Kate" star Nat Faxon has grabbed the lead in the untitled FX comedy pilot from Andrew Gurland (The Last Exorcism). Faxon will play one half of a married couple who agree to "shake things up" in order to save their marriage.


Culled from TV.com

News This Weekend: Finales and renewals

--- Airing this weekend on Sunday is the Season Finale of both "The Good Wife" and "Vikings", while "Revenge" is back on air after 3 weeks break.

--- The CW has renewed struggling "Beauty and the Beast" and "Hart of Dixie" for Seasons 2 and 3, respectively, and also given a series order to "The Vampire Diaries" spin-off "The Originals". They join "Supernatural", "Arrow" and "The Vampire Diaries" on the list of shows confirmed to be returning to The CW for the 2013-2014 TV season.

The quick series pickup of "The Originals" comes the day after its backdoor pilot debuted as an episode of "The Vampire Diaries". The CW apparently would rather take its chances with a new series that can sucker in a built-in audience.

The CW has eight pilots in contention as well as decisions to make regarding "Nikita" and "The Carrie Diaries". Rumors abound that "Nikita" is coming back for one final season and that it would be a short order of episodes rather than the normal 20-plus episodes. With a short order of 13 episodes, "Nikita" can come back next season and finish its series and be replaced by "The Carrie Diaries" which also has a 13 episodes order.

--- NBC has renewed five shows for new seasons, the network announced today. "Revolution", "Grimm", "Chicago Fire", "Parenthood", "Law & Order:SVU" have all been renewed. No word yet on "Hannibal" receiving a second season order while "Deception" and "Smash" will almost certainly be cancelled.

NBC says this was the drama round, so there's no word yet on "Parks & Recreation", "Community", "Whitney", "Guys with Kids" and others.

--- CBS has renewed its long-running comedy Two and a Half Men for an eleventh season. But the show isn't coming back the way you're used to. Angus T. Jones, who plays the half-man Jake, will not be returning as a series regular. It's probably a mutual agreement, as Jones has been thinking about going to college.